Buy, Use, Toss? A Closer Look at the Things We Buy

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Copyright © 2010, Facing the Future

Welcome!Buy, Use, Toss?

A Closer Look at the Things We Buy

Dave Wilton

• Assistant Outreach Director

• [email protected]

• 206-264-1503


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• Technical Outreach Coordinator

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About Facing the Future

Seattle-based nonprofit founded in 1995

Interdisciplinary global issues and sustainability curriculum for K-12

Over 1.5 million students reached annually

All 50 U.S. states and over 100 countries

Professional development and consulting www.facingthefuture.org


http://www.facingthefuture.org/


About the Unit

10 interdisciplinary lessons

Correlated with state and

national education standards

Student readings

Assessment options

Project based learning

Pre & Post Test

Explores the materials

economy and its 5 steps

Download for FREE


Unit Overview


The Story of Stuff


www.storyofstuff.org

http://www.storyofstuff.org/

Pre- and Post-Assessment


Lesson 1

Garbology

Objectives Students will:

Engage in a critical analysis of consumption

Examine trends of modern disposal of material goods in the

United States

Analyze ways in which consumption choices reflect people’s

lifestyle and culture


Critical Thinking Questions

How do material goods reflect our way of life?

How do our individual consumption habits

compare to those of an average American?

Activities

Trash Analysis: Which are luxury items? Which

are essential?

Student presentations of findings

What does looking at someone’s trash tell us?


Lesson 1

Garbology

Are the contents of the midden mostly

essential or luxury items?

How might you characterize the lifestyle

of the people who created it?

How does the midden’s waste compare

to the your household’s waste?Copyright © 2010, Facing the Future

Lesson 1

Garbology: Buried Treasure

Geography

Compare material goods of

families from around the world

Science

Students carry all their trash for

1 day

Which items could be reduced,

reused, and/or recycled?


Lesson 1

Garbology: Extensions

Analyze the trash in your classroom or in the

cafeteria

Visit www.greenschools.net for ideas to green

your school


Lesson 1

Garbology: Action Project

http://www.greenschools.net/


Images retrieved from www.chrisjordan.com

Partial Zoom

www.chrisjordan.com

Lesson 1

Garbology: Resources

http://www.chrisjordan.com/gallery/rtn/

http://www.chrisjordan.com/gallery/rtn/

http://www.chrisjordan.com/

Searchable Database of

State Education Standards


http://www.facingthefuture.org/Curriculum/AlignmentwithEducationStandards/tabid/116/Default.aspx

Unit Overview


Lesson 4

Cost of Production



Explain factors that contribute to sourcing decisions

Describe real-life working conditions

Evaluate corporate manufacturing policies

Develop corporate policies with sustainability in mind

Identify costs and benefits of global trade


Critical Thinking Questions

How does production impact the people and

places where those goods are produce?

What policies might change these impacts

What are the pros and cons of manufacturing

goods in foreign countries?

Activities

Where was your shirt made?

You’re the Boss

Lesson 4

Cost of Production

Comparison of low

cost labor vs. the

true costs of labor

What can a

concerned

shopper do?


Lesson 4

Cost of Production


Lesson 4

Cost of Production

You’re an

executive at a U.S.

company that sells

clothing sewn in

China?

What policies

would your

company require

Chinese factories

to follow?

Vote on the best

policy

Research the product trail of an item and

write a first-person narrative of the product

trail from the point of view of that item.

Where are the raw materials produced?

Where are those materials processed and

assembled?

Who is involved at each step of the process?


Lesson 4

Cost of Production: Extension

Research the corporate policies for

popular apparel companies.

Find companies do not have corporate

policies that take into consideration

people, places, and the environment

Write letters to those companies

expressing their major concerns about

production.


Lesson 4

Cost of Production: Action Project

Lesson 4

Cost of Production: Resources

www.pbs.org/independentlens/chinablue/


http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/chinablue/

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/chinablue/

Unit Overview


Lesson 8

It’s a Dirty Job


Understand economic, social, and environmental

factors connected to waste disposal

Take on perspectives of community stakeholders



Lesson 8

It’s a Dirty JobCritical Thinking Questions

What are the options for disposing or reducing solid

waste?

What are the pros and cons of different methods of

dealing with consumer waste?

How does consumer waste affect people, environments,

and local economies?

What are sustainable solutions for waste management?

Activities

I know where it goes

Community Waste Management Plan

When I throw something

away, I know where it is

disposed of.


Lesson 8

It’s a Dirty Job


Lesson 8

It’s a Dirty Job

Stakeholder Groups

1. Landfill Workers United

2. Waste-to-Energy

Enthusiasts

3. Citizens for Corporate

Responsibility

4. Recycle Ashland

5. Citizens for

Environmental Justice

6. People for Packaging

ReformCopyright © 2010, Facing the Future

Lesson 8

It’s a Dirty Job


Teacher = Mayor of Ashland

Stakeholder groups present their plans

Alliances are formed

The plan with the most points is selected

1 point to a clear, compelling plan

1 point for each alliance

Lesson 8

It’s a Dirty Job

Geography

Where does your trash go? Locate the place where your

community’s trash ends up. Using data from the U.S. Census

Bureau’s “Population Finder” (www.census.gov), research the

following characteristics of the zip code where your community’s

trash is taken: Largest population by race

Percent of population with a bachelor’s degree or higher

Percent of population that speaks a language other than English at home

Median household income

How does this compare to surrounding zip codes? To national

averages? Ask students to answer this question: Why do you think

the landfill or incinerator is located where it is, instead of in a

neighboring zip code?


Lesson 8

It’s a Dirty Job: Extension

Action Project

Learn about recycling e-waste responsibly

Research local options for e-cycling

Hold an e-waste drive

Deliver materials to a responsible recycler, a repair shop,

or to people who can repurpose them


Lesson 8

It’s a Dirty Job: Project

http://www.ban.org/

http://www.ban.org/

Lesson 9

A System Redesign

Objectives: Students will:

Critically analyze the sustainability of all

major components of the materials economy

Determine ways to make the materials

economy more sustainable


“Steps” of the materials economy

Extraction

Production

Distribution

Consumption

Disposal

Which part of the system appears to have the

most hidden impacts? How might that influence

thinking about sustainable changes to the

system?Copyright © 2010, Facing the Future

Lesson 9

A System Redesign

(Optional) Watch Another

Way, the final segment of

The Story of Stuff.

Consider/discuss: “The

materials economy is a

linear system on a finite

planet.”

What is a linear system? In

what ways is the planet

finite?Copyright © 2010, Facing the Future

Lesson 9

A System Redesign

Lesson #9:

A System Redesign


Possible materials economy system

redesign solutions

Biomimicry

Closed loop production

Conscious consuming

Consumer labeling

Students identify impacts of each

solution


Lesson 9

A System Redesign

Extensions

Writing: Create a Bill of Rights for the Materials Economy

Media: Create your own segment for “Another Way”

Science: Design a sustainable product, along with a

commercial advertisement showcasing its features.

Action Project: Create an action plan around the most

important system intervention and implement it as a class

project.


Lesson 9

A System Redesign

Unit Overview



http://www.facingthefuture.org/Curriculum/DownloadFreeCurriculum/tabid/114/Default.aspx


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“We must teach our students that

they can be architects of the future,

rather than its victims.”

~ Buckminster Fuller, Architect and Philosopher